The Irish standard., 1887-12-03
MAKING A MOUTH.
Unfortunate Predicament Of q Stat
en- Island Infant.

Unfortunate Predicament OF q Stat
en- Island Infant. j
a Girl WHO Was Born witt, the Osculato-
ry and Smelling Organs in One-Her
Treatment in the New York
hospital.
Florence Trimball is such u wee little bit
of a thing that she could almost drop out OF
sight III a quart cup. Though SO small and
tender sne has had enough torture TO make
he. heart sick, and if she has any thought
at ali about her surroundings, remarks the
New York correspondent Of the New Or
leans Tims5-DeD,ocrat. she must wonder
what she was ever born for.
She was born with a most peculiar and
unusual ttefor1nity. In fact, there is only
one other case of the kind recorded. and
that was not as marked III several features.
The mouth Of the child was put in the face
in the wrong spot.
There IS quite q history to the case from "a
professional standpoint. Several mouths
before Florence was born a young boy came
to visit Mrs. Trimball at this time some
repairs were being made upon her house at
Staten Island. While the boy WAS playing
in the yard on one occasion a hatchet
slipped from 81 carpenters hand. A warn
ing shout was given. This caused the boy
to look up just as the hatchet reached him,
and the sharp edge struck him fairly ON the
nose, splitting it and the upper lip open.
Mrs. Trimball heard the yell, ran into the
yard, picked up the unconscious boy, car
ried him in, dropped him on bed and
tainted away.
She came to i'll little while, but several
other fainting attacks came on, and ii was
several hours before the effects Of the
fright she had received had passed away.
In a few weeks the boy was taken home,
but that horrible gaping wound was never
out Of Mrs. Trinbails $ mud. When the
child was born what looked like Il bright,
red line ran through the center Of the cbiId's
lips and nose. When the youngster cried
at the cold and clleerlessness Of this world,
the red line trenlble1 ard opened. Horror
upon horrors It was the child's mouth.
Where the mouth ought to be there was
only a blank space: but there it Was, lips
and all, in the, center OF the face, and rum
ming at right angles to the place where the
mouth is found in wclj-Oehayed children
generally. The child Was able to take food
through the opening, though in very
awkward manner. The upper end OF the
mouth split the nose III two between the
11ost,ils. There was NO other defect in the
nose.
At the end Of two weeks the child was
brought to the city, Oh the advice Of the
family physician, and placed in the child's
ward of the New York Hospital for treat
nlent. III was a pretty tough case to tackle,
but tho doctors thought that it would be an
excellent subject for experimental surgery,
and it was not many hours before they he
gan work 4 small electric bulb was put
iii the patients liiolltll, aud by the aid Of the
light a good view Of the internal parts was
had, The tongue, jaw and rocf OF the mouth
were slightly twisted and OIL Of form, but
on the whole the conditions were very
promising Of, success.
The nose and upper lip Of the patient were
tllorongh saturated with cocaine by injec-
tion, and when needle could be rup
t!lrongh the nose with only q slight twing<,,
the knife was set TO work
The ycr!nion il the lips was cut ONT
down 10 the white skin. This was readily
done. rs the uostrils were luGch wider than
usual, to accou1aodaVc the opening. There
was o prcfllsc homorrIaga, and the kicking
and squirlnDg OF tine child made it difficult
TO handle When the bleeding was finally
stopped the two parts were brought into
position and s1tured. The patient seemed
to be so much affected that nothing further
was douu at this time The l2andages were
not disturbed for tweuCy-fOur hours, and
then the wound presented b beastly appear
ance. a fine, flexible tube was run through
one Of tue nostrils, every three hours after.
ward, and food was pumped through 1t lntc
the stomach. Il was tbs only channel open
and had to be taken advantage of. though
there was great danger That some OF the
milk might get into the windpipe, as The
breathing had also to be done through the
nostril entirely. This was avoided with
great skill
Tue wound heilled rapidly, as is usually
the case with children and the edges having
been beveled there seemed to be good tit,
and there was promise that there would be
only slight scar. The mouth having been
closed in order that Florence could have
her fill Of ice cream and other dainties when
she grew up, another one had to be made to
order. Cocaine was used again, and this
time with much greater success than before,
as the child rarely cried with pain, and her
head could be firmly held without jerking.
The surgeon triea 10 find orbscuzayis ori>.
IL ILGtlS CAAe.c AAAo>SG ee CA"~As
around the mouth and gives it many Of it's
motions 1t WAS so family developed that
there was no certainty in placing it, and the
;ncision had to be made at random, running
in q horizontal direction, at a point where
the relative distances between the nose end
chin and mouth were maintained.
The incision was made a little larger than
necessary through the tissue to allow for
contraction. There was considerable bleed
ing, aud was hard work to keep the fluid
out Of the child's throat Fortunately the
upper and lower jaws were not much out OF
plumb and could be readily moved, and did
not require any cutting. There was slight
6ssure in the superior auxiliary, where the
passage from the first mouth was put, but
it was deemed best not so do any thing for
until after several days. In order to keer
the artificial lips from being closed up,
thin ivory wedge was put between them,
and held in position by adhesive plaster.
Then the wound was bandaged. The feed
ing was keptu through the nose, and the
youn gster seemed to like the novelty OF it,
The ivory was taken out every day, while
the wound was washed. and at she end OF
three weeks the edges Of the wound had
closed and the ivory was removed altogeth-
er. Food could be given through the arti-
fetal mouth. The work was skillf',lly done,
l.,S lone ca at tharc